1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a convenience food comprising a quantity of dehydrated noodles and two packages containing soups having different properties.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Dehydrated instant cooking noodles which can be reconstituted by merely immersing or boiling in hot water in a short period of time and snack noodles packaged with dehydrated additives which may be restored rapidly by adding hot water or with liquid or pasty additives in a separate package are well known. These convenience foods are marketed widely in Japan and in the United States.
The dehydrated noodles are prepared usually by kneading wheat or buckwheat flour with water and a mixture of alkali metal salts, such as, sodium or potassium carbonates, bicarbonates, phosphates, polyphosphates and the like into a dough which is rolled into a sheet, and the sheet is cut into strips having a typical width of 1 to 2 mm. The strips are usually cut into 30 g to 90 g quantities of noodles and are dried with hot air or packed in a shallow container and fried in hot oil to obtain a lump of dehydrated noodles.
The mixture of alkali metal salts may impart a special texture, palatability and flavor to the reconstituted noodles which are known as Chinese noodles. Such dehydrated noodles are the main component of the convenience food of the present invention.
Conventional dehydrated noodles are reconstituted in hot water in a short period of time, e.g., about 2 to 5 minutes. The additives, which are packed in a separate container consisting of powdered or pasty soup, flavoring agent, aromatics and the like, are added to the reconstituted noodles and served. If the additives are mixed in after the reconstitution of the noodles, the taste imparting ingredients in the additives do not penetrate adequately into the individual noodle. As a result, the reconstituted noodles do not match with the soup even if the concentration of the soup is increased.
If, however, the dehydrated noodles are boiled with water and the additives and taste imparting ingredients may penetrate into the noodles, the aromatic substance of the spices or essence in the additives may evaporate during boiling. Also, the alkali substance in the noodles is neutralized by the organic acids in the soup or the acidic substances in the soy sauce contained in the additives. As a result, the special palatability and flavor of the reconstituted noodles affected by the presence of alkali metal salts will be substantially lost.
Evaporation or decomposition of the aromatic flavoring substances and neutralization of the reconstituted noodles are caused by boiling with water and the reconstituted noodles remain unflavored and have a different palatability and texture compared to that of conventional Chinese noodles. The components of the conventional convenience food consisting of a quantity of dehydrated noodles and a separate package containing taste imparting and aromatic flavorings cannot be cooked by placing these components simultaneously in boiling water for these reasons.